The Itako
by DaddysGirl81
Summary: This is the story of Anna’s life. It’s about how she went from a happy and constantly smiling child to the cold girl that we all know and love.
1. Introduction

A/N: This is the first story in four that I am going to write.

Story Number 1: The Itako - the first story in the Kyouyama Girls Quartet. It is the story of Anna's life and how she became so cold.

Story Number 2: The Priestess - will be about Anna's sister Sara who is older than her by two years.

Story Number 3: The X-Law - will be about Anna's sister Jeanne who is older than her by four years.

Story Number 4: Family Ties - will take place after the Shaman Fight. It shows the three sisters bonding and then having to take down an even greater threat then Zeke…their father.

Characters:

**Annabelle Rose Kyouyama (Anna): **She is the youngest of the three sisters and was disowned by their father at the young age of two when he found out that she was an Itako instead of a priestess. She has the most tortured past of the three and learns to build a barrier around her heart to protect herself from the world and the people in it.

**Sarabeth Leigh Kyouyama (Sara): **She is the second daughter of the Kyouyamas and had the most privileged life of the three. After Anna was disowned, she became their father's favorite daughter. She is a priestess, very trusting, and a big flirt.

**Elizabeth Jeanne Kyouyama (Jeanne): **She is the first daughter to the Kyouyamas and also the second born child. A few years after Anna was disowned she moved away to live with one of her relatives. She is the most calm and collected one of the three, most of the time anyway.

**Toya Kyouyama: **He is the oldest of all the Kyouyama siblings and very protective of his three younger siblings. He is a very strong shaman, but doesn't compete in the shaman tournament.

**Annabelle Rose Kyouyama (Rose): **She is the mother of the four Kyouyama siblings and Anna's namesake. She is married to their father against her will and manages to get out of the marriage during the shaman tournament.

**Thomas Kyouyama: **He is the father of the four Kyouyama siblings and Zeke's mentor in the pyromaniac's second lifetime. After the shaman tournament Anna, Sara, and Jeanne have to work together to try and bring him down.

**Yoh Asakura: **Anna's happy-go-lucky fiancé. He is lazy and determined to become shaman king and figure out the reasons behind Anna's mask. He is also Anna's best friend.

**Zeke Asakura: **He is Yoh's twin brother who is determined to take over the shaman world and get rid of all humans.

**Mortimer (Morty): **He is Yoh's first human friend, and also his best friend.

**Trey Racer: **He is also a shaman and wants to become shaman king. He is lazy and loves to eat and comes from the north where it is very cold. He is one of Yoh's close friends.

**Tamara Tamao (Tammy): **She is a very shy fortuneteller who starts with a crush on Yoh before falling for Trey. She is a close friend of Yoh and Anna's.

**Pilica Racer: **She is Trey's younger sister. Pilica is a lot like Anna - tough, hardcore, etc.- except she's a lot happier.

**Len Tao: **He comes from a rich Chinese family. He starts out as one of Yoh's enemies but turns into one of his best friends. He is also a shaman.

**Jun Tao: **Len's older sister and, seemingly, the only person who can get under his skin.

**Rio: **He starts out as a human but eventually winds up being a shaman. He is a close friend of Yoh's.

**Keiko Asakura: **She is Yoh's mother and a priestess.

**Mikihisa Asakura: **He is Yoh's father who secretly keeps an eye on Yoh and his friends until they begin to travel to Dobe Village when he finally shows himself.

**Yohmei Asakura: **He is Yoh's grandfather and also the one that trained Yoh for most of his life.

**Kino Asakura: **She is Yohmei's wife and Yoh's grandmother. She found Anna in the woods when the girl was still a small child and raised her trained her in the ways of an Itako. She is the one who arranged the marriage for Yoh and Anna.


	2. Part I: How It All Began

_**The Itako: The Story of Anna Kyouyama**_

Summery: This is the story of Anna's life. It's about how she went from a happy and constantly smiling child to the cold girl that we all know and love.

_**Prologue **_

_/How It All Began/_

I don't remember much about my family. But I do remember a woman with long, flowing blonde hair and black eyes who used to sing me to sleep or rub my stomach when I was tired. I'm sure that that was my mother.

Then there was my father. A man with black hair and blue eyes that would throw me in the air and catch me and tell me all sorts of stories. But when he caught me playing with ghosts, he began to hit me and my mother. It wasn't long afterwards that he disowned me.

There was a boy with blonde hair and black eyes, my brother Toya. He would play games with me and tried to teach me how to swim. I remember him as very protective and fighting with anyone who said anything cruel about me or anyone else in our family.

I also remember a girl with silver hair and red eyes. She was my oldest sister, Jeanne. She always tried to act responsibly and usually thought before acting even though she was only six-years-old. I remember her as a best friend and a sort of second mother.

Lastly, I remember my other sister, Sara, who was older than me by two years. She had black hair and blue eyes, much like our father. She always had a lot of energy and loved to play games and pranks. She also loved it when someone praised or congratulated her for something that she did because she just relished the attention. I think we argued a lot, but were still pretty close…

What I do remember though, is being with Akuma. He was a man with burgundy-brown hair and cold grey eyes. I met him when I was three. I remember that day perfectly…

I was running, running through a forest away from something or someone. Maybe it was a lot of some things or a lot of some ones. Maybe I wasn't running away from anything. Maybe I was just running away from the voices in my head.

But either way, I was running. It was pelting rain and I was soaked to the bone and cold. I remember feeling like I was frozen solid, and wanting to lay down and sleep. But I think a part of me knew not to do that. That if I were to lay down and go to sleep, I wouldn't wake up again. So, I kept running.

I ran until my lungs began to burn, until my legs refused to carry me any further, only then did I collapse. But I didn't stop moving. I saw a hollow spot at the bottom of a tree and began to crawl towards it. I grabbed hold of large roots to help move me along. The only thing that kept me moving was the sound of the footsteps and shouts that were getting closer and louder.

After crawling into the hole, darkness consumed me…

A few hours later, I woke to the sunlight shining on my face. I sat up and looked around, trying to find out where I was.

I was lying in a small bed. A man with black hair and brown eyes stared down at me curiously. A slow smile made it's way across his face as he watched me.

"Well, it's good to see that you're finally awake. You've been out going a four days now," he smiled broadly at me. "My name is Akuma Taome."

I didn't say anything as I stared at the strange man. There was something about him that I didn't trust, something that didn't quite add up.

Maybe it was because I was so young---small children are known for being able to detect these things---or maybe it was because it was the way my life had turned out over the span of one year, that I didn't trust him.

And over the next two years, I would learn that I was right to feel distrustful of him.


End file.
